Tornadoes

Tuesday night the weather forecasters began to warn us about a large storm heading for the south and to prepare ourselves for possible severe weather. I am always a sceptic when it comes to this, because they seem to cry wolf a whole lot, but when I looked at the radar and saw the storm stretching from Nashville to Tulsa, I figured it may get pretty bad. So Carter slept in his pack n play in our room and I kept an eye on the radar on and off all night. We don't have a weather radio, so this was my only way of knowing what was going on. The storm was extremely slow moving and I finally gave up checking it at about 3:30, because I thought it was bunk. At about 5:59 a.m. our house began to shake and the wind sounded extremely nasty. I jumped up and told Brett to take Carter to the bathroom right away because it sounded like our house may come down. I have to say in all the bad weather we've had, this was the first time we ran to our "safe place" and we were actually concerned we may be in danger. Even two years ago when an EF-4 tornado came past our house, we weren't home when it happened.

The wind died down in about 10 seconds and all seemed clear. After I stopped shaking, I went to make coffee and looked out the kitchen window to see one of our large trees completely uprooted and laying in the neighbors' yard. It actually looked like it was laying on their garage, but it turned out one of their own trees was laying on their garage. Either way, it destroyed their fence, took down some of their trees and clipped their house. Whoops!!

All day long storms kept coming through our area, but the worst of them hit just south of us on the TN/AL stateline as all of you probably already know. I believe 33 people died in TN and much more in AL, MS, and GA. It's really sad. We surveyed our neighborhood and surrounding areas and although it looked really bad, it was mostly just trees down. There wasn't much structural damage. We had minor damage on our house and just have a lot of yard work ahead of us now. Here are some pics that Brett and I snapped.

*Our Backyard*

*The next door neighbor's yard*

*Around Murfreesboro*

Feel Accomplished

Remember that T0-Do list I posted a few weeks ago? At the time I was feeling very overwhelmed with how much Brett and I had to do now that Spring was rolling around. Well, we've managed to knock some big projects off that list and I'm feeling much better. The first project we accomplished was having a garage sale. I really didn't want to mess with it, but am glad I did. We got rid of just about everything we put up for sale and we managed to rake in a good amount of money. Of course we spent most of the money buying the 24 new screening trees we planted in hopes they would grow 15 ft tall and block out our creepy neighbor. My dad planted over 100 trees at his house, so he rented a power auger to dig the holes. After Brett got done helping plant my dad's trees, my dad brought the auger over to our house and dug our holes. Then the next weekend my brother came and helped Brett put in our trees. I had to work that day, so I wasn't able to help. (Not that I would've anyway, since I'm conveniently pregnant). Here's the beginning of the trees going in. I have yet to post an after picture.The next project that got crossed off the list was finishing Carter's big boy room. I buckled down and painted (with plenty of ventilation I might add), put together all his new furniture, and put up his Dr. Seuss decals that I made through UpperCaseLiving.com. Here are some pics of his room. If I can manage to find my regular camera, I'll take better pictures.

I am so glad that project is done. It was a big one. Carter loves playing in his new room, but I have yet to decide if he loves sleeping in it. The last couple nights have been really horrible when it comes to getting him to go to sleep, but I'm not sure if it's the new room or the new teeth he's been getting in. Poor kiddo. I just love the fact that his new room is big enough to hold a lot of his toys, so they don't have to be in my living room anymore.

Now the next project we have tackled is staining our deck. That's something we hadn't done since we moved in and it was in bad shape. Fortunately I didn't have much work for my mechanic at the dealership the past couple days and while I was trying to scrounge things up for him to do, a light bulb went off in my head. Why not pay him to stain your deck? It would definitely be worth it. So Brett prepped the deck by bleaching it and Jack was there this morning to start staining it. So by the time I get home tonight, I will have a newly stained deck. So excited. And for a couple hours this morning while Jack got started on the deck, I installed the new skimmer on our pool and got the new filter and pump pretty close to operational. I just have to get sand for the filter and we'll be in business.

The only major projects we have left this Spring is to rock part of our backyard and put together Carter's swing set. I guess we can accomplish at least one of those things this upcoming weekend. Did I mention I've only gained 5 lbs during this pregnancy so far? It's no wonder, right?

So what are some of your DIY projects?

Drum Roll Please....

It's that time. 20 weeks and an ultrasound. We went in this morning with my bladder full of way too much water and the tech was once again running an hour behind. Lovely, right? After I had gone to the bathroom twice and still felt like I was going to flood the waiting room, they finally called me back. That's when the tech told me that I didn't need a full bladder and I could go empty it. Are you serious?!?!?! So why have I always been told otherwise? Or better yet, why didn't the nurse tell me that when she knew I was about to pee my pants? Anyway, enough about that. The baby appeared to be completely healthy and also quite stubborn. He/she kept his/her legs crossed for 30 mins. Finally he/she revealed she was just being a lady, because SHE's a GIRL!!! We are so excited!!!! One, because we wanted a girl, two, because this may mean I never have to be pregnant again!!! One boy, one girl. Sounds good enough for me. Now it's time to hit up Target and Old Navy, because I'm in need of some dresses. Anybody need boy clothes? I have boxes and boxes that it doesn't look like I'll be needing!!

Spring Projects

It's that time of year again, when it seems as though all weekends from here until June will be filled with projects. Part of that is the glory of home ownership. Unfortunately it seems as though I always seem to be pregnant when we have the most to do. I guess that will just keep me in shape, right? Well here is what is on Brett and I's to-do list for the near future:

• Get our pool cleaned and ready for the summer (just an above ground, so it shouldn't be too much work).


• Assemble Carter's swingset.


• Kill off half of our backyard, lay weed fabric, and spread rock in the area that won't grow grass real well. As well as replacing all of our mulch with rock.


• Plant 12 screening trees to block out our sex offender neighbor who likes to call the fire dept. on us for having small fires in our fire bowl.


• Power wash and stain our deck. Brett wants to also do the fence, but I don't know about that.


• Have a garage sale (I hate this idea, but it's a must to clear out Carter's new big boy room).


• Paint and decorate Carter's new Dr. Seuss themed room. Assemble the new crib, dresser, and storage shelf.


• And just keep up with the typical weeding and yard work that comes along with owning a house.

This may not seem like anymore than a couple of labor intensive weekends, but when we both work every or every other Saturday and have a 16 month old that requires constant supervision; it's very tough to get some of these things done. Oh yeah and we need a new roof, but that's a subject for another day. My neighbor who owns his own construction business likes to remind us on a constant basis that we need a new roof and my thought is "yeah just add that to the list buddy". So anyway, that's what we'll be up to for the next several weekends. Oh and we'll also be finding out if we're having a boy or a girl next Thursday. I'm stoked! Praying for pink!! haha. But I sure wouldn't mind another boy.

15 months-Full Steam Ahead

Carter just turned 15 months old on the 19th and I figured it was time to share with you what's been going on in his life. He finally started walking at about 14 months and although I kept urging him to do it for a long time, I'm now wishing I hadn't rushed him into it. Needless to say, we have 5 baby gates up now, including one on our bedroom door, because he has learned how to turned the handle and open the door. And we don't have round knobs, so the gate was our only way of keeping him out. He has also become quite the climbing machine and I can't seem to keep him off of anything. He climbs on everything!! He climbs on his play table, he stands up in his rocking chair, and he even climbs on the shelves of our built in media center. He's a little monkey, I tell ya. With all this climbing, he's also done some falling, but that doesn't seem to stop him. Anyone got any suggestions on how to stop all the climbing? It's rather nerve wrecking.The only time I get him to sit down and give myself a break from chasing him around is when it's bathtime. He loves the bath! I swear I could leave him in there for hours and he'd be pefectly happy. He has even gotten used to me tipping him back in the water to rinse out his hair. His daddy also helps with baths and likes to give him bubbly mohawks.
Carter is quite the social butterfly as well. He has never suffered from separation anxiety and he definitely isn't shy. I credit this to him being exposed to lots and lots of people since he was born. He loves daycare and gets along with the kids great. He is quite the ladies man if I do say so myself (but that might have something do with the fact that there is only one other boy there).
He went to work with me a couple of days last week, because his daycare provider was sick, so needless to say I got zero done and ended up leaving early. Here he is sitting in his seat next to me.
So I have to say, this past month our lives have really changed. We can go outside and play more, we are wearing shoes all the time (except in the house), we have gotten our first moler, we are ordering off the kid's menu, we have been expressing our strong will more and more each day, and we have kissed the paci good-bye for good. Although some nights I wish we still had the paci, but I refuse to cave after he's been without it for a few weeks. Brett and I feel more worn out at the end of the day, but we are loving every second with our little man more and more each day. All the chasing Carter around has kept my pregnancy weight down. I'm 13 weeks along and have yet to really gain any weight. The doctor's scale said 1 lb, but that was right after lunch and my scale says none. By this point in my first pregnancy I had already gained like 5 - 10 lbs (yeah I know, shut up!). So we love you little man and we are looking forward to watching you grow up!!
*Note the obnoxious look on his face. I'd say that describes his personality well; he's a very strong willed individual. Kind of like his momma.*

Ticker's a Tickin'

Well tomorrow I will be 12 weeks pregnant and I went for my second checkup today. They weighed me in (always my favorite part....barf) and I only gained 1 lb. I guess I can live with that. According to my scale I hadn't gained anything (and actually lost a couple since I was so sick the last couple of days), but I blame it on eating a pretty hefty lunch right before my visit.

The doc went to listen to the heartbeat and picked it up right away. Success!! I guess since I haven't had most of the terrible pregnancy symptoms I had with Carter part of me has been thinking "knock knock, you still in there baby?" I'll take today's visit as a yes.

So we're just plugging away. My mom has already been gracious enough to purchase new bedding and a new convertable crib for Carter. We have decided to do his bed in the Dr. Suess theme and found some really great bedding at Pottery Barn. My plans for his room look a little like this:

Except he's getting a Chocolate finish crib, because I just couldn't bring myself to putting him in a white crib. White would be great for a girl, I'm just not sure about it for a boy. We're going to keep the nursery just the way it is. Except I will definitely need to buy a new sheet for the mattress. Carter has been pretty rough on it.

The only thing I'm finding that I'm dealing with a lot more than I did when I was pregnant with Carter is that I'm sick a lot more often. Partly because they say having a kid, a miscarriage, and another pregnancy all in 14 months is a lot for your body to handle. So I guess I'm pretty depleted, but then I have Carter in daycare and the kids in there are constantly sick. So he's constantly sick, so I'm constantly sick. He actually managed to not catch a stomach bug that was going around daycare, while I did catch it. Out of nowhere, I became violently ill on Wednesday morning and pretty much didn't get out of bed for the next two days. It was miserable.

So I guess that about wraps it up. We've got a healthy baby so far and now I just need to worry about keeping him/her healthy and keeping myself as healthy as possible. Here's to hoping winter comes to an end very soon!! (please don't remind me of this when i'm bitching about the heat in August).

25 and already having EKGs run

Well yesterday proved to be a kind of scary day for me. It started off like any other day, but around 11:00am I started to feel pretty weak, so I decided to eat lunch early in hopes that would make me feel better. Well it didn't. I found myself struggling to catch my breath and feeling worse by the minute. I then started to feel a flutting in my chest and after about an hour, it dawned on me to take my pulse. That's when I noticed every time I felt the flutter in my chest, my heart was skipping a beat. It wouldn't have bothered me, except that it was skipping a beat about every 5 seconds or so. I called my dad and told him what was going on and he said he'd be back to the office in a few minutes.

Once my parents got back to the office, I let my mom feel my pulse and within just a few seconds she felt my heart skip two times. So we decided it was best that I go to the walk-in clinic to have them take my vitals. Well, we went to 2 different clinics and they were really backed up, so my mom just told the nurse practitioner what was going on and that's when she referred me to the E.R.

So it was off to the E.R. we went. It's amazing how when you tell them you're having heart problems, you get rushed right in without even having to wait 5 mins. It wasn't long after I was there that they ran an EKG to see if my heart was okay. That came back normal, so they hooked me up to a monitor to watch my heart beat for a while and they took some urine and blood. They also tried to listen for the baby's heartbeat, but it wasn't loud enough to get a good count. I also went for a chest X-Ray and that came back normal as well. After a couple of hours, my heart went back to normal and the doctor said he saw it skipping beats, but couldn't watch it long enough to see if anything was abnormal. My blood work did show that my potassium level was low and that could have very well caused the irregular heartbeat. So they gave me 4 big potassium pills, a referral to a cardiologist, and sent me on my way.

They also recommended that I drink Gatorade and eat a banana everyday. I just hate when things like this happen. I leave feeling like I just spent a whole lot of money to be told "we don't know what's wrong with you". Awesome. I also feel very frustrated because I feel like I'm falling apart. Two visits to the E.R. within 6 months. Really? I mean, my OBGYN did express concern that 2 good pregnancies, and a miscarriage all within 14 months is a lot for my body to handle. But I never expected this. I just feel like my body has been completely drained of all the "good stuff".

Anyhow, I guess I will make a follow up appointment with the cardiologist and she if that leads anywhere. My guess is my heart will act completely normal and he will not see anything like what was going on yesterday. I guess that'd be a good thing though.